Mike's Mailbox: What's Syracuse's record compared with the other basketball teams at Madison Square Garden

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardSyracuse's C.J. Fair pressures a Virginia Tech player trying to inbound the ball during the Orange's most recent trip to Madison Square Garden to play in the NIT Tip Off Classic in November.

Q: What is SU’s basketball record at Madison Square Garden compared to other teams that regularly play there?

— Marc

Waters: Syracuse played its first game at the old Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1, 1939. Syracuse beat Manhattan 42-31.

The old Garden, which was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, was built in 1925 and remained in use until 1968.

In 1968, the current Garden opened on Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd streets.

Syracuse has an all-time record of 85-71 (.545) at Madison Square Garden. Syracuse is 42-35 in Big East Tournament games at the Garden, 3-9 in the NIT and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament.

The Orange’s winning percentage is better than that of the New York Knicks. Entering the current season, the Knicks had an all-time record of 2,525-2,556 at the Garden for a .497 winning percentage.

However, St. John’s, which has called the Garden home for 77 years, was 390-262 (.598) entering this season. This season, St. John’s is 8-4 at the Garden, so the Johnnies’ percentage is up to .599.

Q: Was this Jim Boeheim’s best January ever?

— Fragmites on the SU basketball blog

Waters: Syracuse went 8-1 in January with the only loss coming at Notre Dame on Jan. 21.

That’s very good, but it’s not the best January the Orange has had in Boeheim’s 36-year tenure.

In 1977, Boeheim’s first season as head coach, Syracuse went 8-0 in the month of January. Two years later, Syracuse went 11-0 in January.

Both of those seasons came before Syracuse joined the Big East and began playing conference games from January on. In 2000, Syracuse went 9-0 in January, beating eight Big East teams and stepping outside the league for a win at South Carolina.

Two years ago, Syracuse went 8-1 in January. And Syracuse also was 8-1 in January of 1995.

Q: What other recruits are we looking at for 2012?

— Ann B.

Waters: The Syracuse coaches were done recruiting the Class of 2012, but that changed this past week.

Nerlens Noel, a 6-11 junior who is the No. 2 rated prospect in the Class of 2013, announced that he would reclassify and graduate with this year’s class. Syracuse had been recruiting Noel.

Noel told ESPN.com’s Dave Telep that he would visit SU on Feb. 11 when the Orange hosts Connecticut.